


GaoGaiGar: Rectified

by Jezzikins



Category: GaoGaiGar
Genre: AU, Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adult Content, Alien Character(s), Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Culture, Alien Planet, Aliens, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ass-Kicking, Assassination, Assault, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Cybernetics, Cyberpunk, Cyborgs, Death, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, Evoluder, Experimentation, F/M, Gen, Giant Robots, Graphic Description, Gun Violence, Human Experimentation, Interspecies Romance, Killer Robots, Minor Character Death, Mutant Powers, Mutants, Mutation, Mutilation, Near Death Experiences, New Planets, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Out of Body Experiences, Outer Space, Planets, Reincarnation, Resurrection, Robot Feels, Robot/Human Relationships, Robotics, Robots, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequel, Sex Robots, Shishioh Gai, Space Battles, Space Opera, Space Stations, Superpowers, Threats of Violence, Unethical Experimentation, Unofficial Sequel, Violence, scifi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2018-12-05 14:43:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11580183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jezzikins/pseuds/Jezzikins
Summary: Gai has somehow crossed into another dimension - what relation does this place hold to his past... and is there a way to save the friends he left behind? Questions abound as he is unwillingly thrown into an intergalactic power struggle. Only the King of Braves can RECTIFY this...!





	1. Revival

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Comments - 
> 
> The following is a project I've been milling around in my mind for some time. It's a direct sequel to the events in GaoGaiGar Final because I just wasn't happy with the ending, and like any rabid fan girl… I was dying for more… only to have my hopes dashed when Project Z or whatever fell apart. There will undeniably be spoilers in the following chapters.  
> I hope you can appreciate the thought and time I've put into this. Note that I will be taking certain liberties and stretching some facts where I see fit. I will also be using Romaji spellings for some names (sorry, but I will be using the 'Gai' spelling, not 'Guy' because I feel like the English variant takes away from the kanji's original meaning - 凱 (Gai) means 'triumphant or victorious'). Thanks for reading and please… constructive criticism is encouraged!
> 
>  
> 
> Quick pronunciation guide -
> 
> Bai-Xe (BYE-SHE)
> 
> Pylon (PIE-lon)
> 
> Copula (cop-YU-la)
> 
> Genesic (djen-eh-sik)

GaoGaiGar: Rectified

\- Here's Your Latest Intelligence!

As the final battle between the Gutsy Geiod Guard (GGG) and the 11 Masters of Sol came to its epic close, the matter replication device was destroyed and our heroes were left trapped in the Trinary System - sacrificing themselves to save Mamaru and Kaidou with the J-ark's last ES missile. The clone Papillon Noir, no longer to able contain a form, dissipated as well as Gai - who's life force was ultimately drained with his last attack.

…Or was it?  
Is there still hope for our forgotten heroes?

 

Episode One: Revival

 

Stars.  
Billons of them - specks of light twinkling in and out in grand spirals of color. Gradually, luminous polychromatic plasma clouds splattered across like some abstract art against a black canvas. Each little orb within, it's own world ignorant of the past plight faced by a group of daring heroes far from their own galaxy, blurred across the vision of a lone spectator as he traveled through time and space.

No, that wasn't right. It wasn't exactly his 'vision' because he was sure that he wasn't really 'seeing' it… more like, he 'felt' it… felt the universe…or became one with it… as the impending tunnel of white light beckoned its new boarder. This must be death - crossing over as some effect of expelling all his energy. Or, maybe it hadn't been completely his? There was an inkling that it came from something else, somewhere else… in the before, that had dissolved to stardust along with him.  
But, who was he anyway? Or who had he been? What had he been? Did it matter?

Slowly, memories became only impressions, cares were irrelevant and fear… did not exist.  
Enlightenment…  
Then… the peace was instantly shattered as he pierced the veil. Flesh, bone, blood, fear, pain, love, the reality of feeling - came back all at once as he rematerialized amongst a sea of stars, floating aimlessly in this universe anew.  
Where?  
What?  
…Was that supposed to happen?

There was a warm green glow surrounding his bare battered body - some mysterious yet familiar aura protecting him from the elements of space. He realized he didn't need to breathe, which was good since he couldn't move a finger let alone heave an intake of the nonexistent air.

An overwhelming ache ran through every inch of his lean figure, especially a burning on his left arm and chest, where a scar under his right pectoral harkened back to an intense confrontation. His being screamed to go back to the 'nothing-something-ness' that he had come from, like a popped balloon that suddenly regained form. Agonizing and strained, he was briefly aware that his body was only becoming weaker with each passing moment.

An auburn mane crowned his head, the coils encircled his body with their excessive length. His brow pulsated - muddled by pain and tinges of thoughts. Through an exacerbated mental channel - nudges, sounds and senses, memory flashes of the girl he loved and his life once lived, a billion buzzing blips of perception and questions lined the periphery of his psyche. Voices resounded but they were barely distinguishable.  
He was confused.  
And sad for some reason.  
And in pain.  
And so very tired.  
Slipping away again… in a different way….  
A faint friendly presence fleeted by his mind's eye as he let himself fall back into the oblivion… neon crystal fractals encasing the last of his visage…

X x x x X

A curt gasp escaped Bai-Xe's lips as she was jolted awake. She sensed something… powerful, but familiar.  
It took a second for all three of her aqua eyes (a pair under thick lenses and the third situated horizontally in the middle of a high jade-colored forehead, flanked by long white bangs) to adjust to the dim strobing light of her quarters resonating from the tanked Phosphorus Flying Fish in front of her. She had been studying the exo-planetary minnow before dozing off, a plethora of papers spread about her desk attested to it, and was relieved to see that it had decided to show its 'true colors' so to say, which were only visible in the dark.  
Her three delicate multi-segmented digits strummed against her chin in thought, the thin fur that cloaked her forearm briefly tickled her neckline, as she studied the rhythm of the changing colors. Something was off though. Not just because her thoughts were elsewhere, but because color seemed to come from elsewhere as well. She looked to her left at one of the various monitors that lined her study wall and her eyes widened.  
It hadn't been just a feeling!

She fumbled out of her chair in excitement and tip-toed with insectoid legs quickly through the mess of plant specimens, books and journals toward her door, grabbing a display screen as she ran out - leaving the forgotten fish to stare at its newfound competition.  
Red flashing words scrolled across the monitor screen.  
SUBJECT FOUND.

Bai-Xe felt her hearts (her people had two) pumping blood overtime as she raced through the halls of the exploration vessel Taranis. Other ship-hands, scientists and agents (distinguished by their multi-fashioned uniforms of navy and white) from various intergalactic locale decorated the kaleidoscopic atmosphere, yet looks still landed on her as she made her way toward the captain's bridge. Her long hair did nothing to conceal derogatory whispers from the acute hearing of her ovine ears. She tried to ignore them.

Punching in her access code as fast as she could muster, she barreled through the sliding door riddled with the anxiety that came from both wanting to tell something really exciting and knowing that you'd have to do it in front of a group of people.

"C-Captain P-Pylon!" She stammered, falling over upon entering the vast control room. It had a small drop-off from the door and down she went, flat on her face, sprawled out and flinging the display screen forward ahead of her. There were chuckles from several of the control-hand occupants lower from the main platform, but she felt a sturdy compassionate arm lift her from the floor.

There was the dark-haired woman who was not to be trifled with, Captain Deborah Pylon, curvaceous yet rugged from the sand-blasted planet Impetere, smiling against a backdrop of blinking computers and an enormous tri-panel vision screen that currently displayed the exterior of space. She let out a mellow laugh. "Bai-Xe, there's a step there."

"Ah! Yes, uh, thanks…" Bai-Xe began a little timidly. "I guess I - I wasn't paying attention… I - I just really need to tell you something…!

A scoff came from across the dais, and a slithery, skin and bones, balding man dressed in the uniform of a high-ranking agent stood up at his station.

"Oooh, I can't wait to hear what insightful information the exobiologist Ms. Zun has for us…!" his shrill voice laced with sarcasm, "…did you discover a mollusk that emits gamma rays… or a weed that can sing show tunes this time?"

Bai-Xe began a retort but Deborah cut it off "Parley, sit down and shut your trap. I doubt she'd come up here if it wasn't something of extreme importance…"

He did so, with an indignant "Ha-rumf!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Bai-Xe replied, gathering her bearings. She skipped down to where her display screen lay at the dainty metal feet of one female computer operator, Conduit, the completely robotic chief engineer and technician of the crew. Bai-Xe picked the device up and after pecking her finger against the touch screen for a moment, leaned over to her. "Conduit, if you wouldn't mind bringing up these coordinates for me, please?"

Conduit raised her brow with surprise when she looked at the screen, but nodded. Keying in some digits, the left side of the large visual monitor blinked into another scene of space - slightly discolored through less-enhanced lenses - where an obvious massive structure of green crystal floated through the cosmos.

"What… in the Void is that?" a gruff voice from behind exclaimed. It was Copula, the burly sunglass-wearing veteran officer, second in command to Pylon, who barely looked the part with his lack of military attire in favor of a bare chest a mess of white hair and some multi-pocketed beige shorts. His left cheek had a scar that extended to his neck and his hair was salt and pepper growing every which way around his head. He had an affectionate nickname as the "Gorilla Guerrilla"

"A G-Crystal…" Bai-xe mused out loud. A lump came to her throat as she thought back to something from before.

"A what!?"

She was snapped out of her reverie. "Uh - I mean, it's called a G-Crystal!" She cleared her throat and tapped her display quickly again. "One of my roving space pods just outside of the Tanabatha Nodule transmitted these images after it picked up on its resonating frequency… though, from the time codes, it seems that it's been a while ago…" she tapped her screen a few more times to show a new image of the same area without the structure. "…As you can see, it's gone now…." she cleared her throat, "and it's imperative that we find it…!"

"Oh!" Parley pipped. "A giant rock in space… no way! Why should we waste our time on that!? Don't tell me you think the Interplanetary Coalition would take up an interest in jewelry making!"

Offended on a few levels, Bai-Xe spun around to face him. "You don't understand! This isn't just some giant rock! It's…" She stopped herself. She had to choose her words wisely, "…a very, uh… rare source of insurmountable energy."

"She's right!" Conduit chirped as she gazed wide-eyed at her desk screen. "The energy levels coming from the vicinity are off the charts! Dare I say even… dangerously so!" She had a concerned look about her. "Even if the images don't show the mineral anymore, the source is obviously still in Tanabatha somewhere…"

A hush fell across the room and Captain Pylon herself shoved past the others to get a good gaze at it. After a pause, she narrowed her eyes, glanced to the larger screen and back down to the exobiologist. "I'm glad you brought this to my attention, Bai-Xe."

She barked toward her second. "Copula! Alert your subordinates over there pronto!"

He smiled as if he'd been given a present. "Must be legit."

"Yes," an air of urgency permeated her words as she paced back toward him, "With energy levels like that, the material has to be extremely volatile! There have been rumors of ConTech operatives commandeering commercial vessels there recently and I surely don't want something so dangerous in their hands. If Bai-Xe's pods picked up on this signature, than there's no doubt in my mind they have too."

Bai-Xe bit her lip and gulped. That… would not be good.

Copula saluted and booked it out of there, knowing better than to dawdle. Deborah continued to snap out orders in succession as she paced, the control room quickly becoming a flurry of activity as reports were sent and scanners were monitored. "Bai-xe…" she stopped in front of her and, putting her hands on her shoulders, asked softly, "Is there anymore information you can give me on this thing?"

Bai-xe stared out at the murmur of activity from the control operators, back at her small monitor, then up at her captain again, thinking about just what she needed to say.

"Yes," she whispered. "it's… crucial that the Copula Brigade use extreme caution with him…"

Deborah blinked. "Him …?"

Bai-xe swallowed, knowing full well that what she was about to say was going to sound ridiculous. "The energy wasn't exactly coming from the crystal…" Deborah's eyes widened at this. "…but, rather, the man inside it…"

X x x x X

An easy breeze and the smell of sea salt wafted by the chestnut-haired young man lounging underneath a familiar tree. He liked to come here to do thinking, gazing at the ocean from the hill, and it had become a natural meeting place between himself and a longtime friend… who was now a lot more.

His mind was miles away as he stared at the wispy clouds overhead. The sounds of gulls and waves came back to him, lulling him into a trance. His eyes slowly drooped as he listened to the sounds, close yet distant… but one lingered a bit more. A sweet voice… and it seemed to grow louder...

"Gai!"

His eyes snapped open when Mikoto barked at him. She held her hands to her side and stared down at him with a pouty look in her crimson eyes. "Didn't you hear me calling?"

The small redhead wore a dressy green blouse that showed just enough cleavage and checkered skirt today and she had a peculiar hairstyle that made her look like she had antennae or some kind of bunny ears, but he wouldn't have her looking any other way. She was unique and special to him, and she saved him so many times, even if she didn't know that extent. He studied her for a moment.

"Sorry, I guess I lost myself there for a moment…" He finally managed, rubbing the back of his head. "You look good today, Mikoto…"

She blushed and giggled. "Well thank you, Gai… you know just what to say, don't you?"

"Heh, I try to…" he smirked friendly. "It's the outfit I got for your birthday, right?"

"I'm surprised you remember something like that," she replied, leaning down into him, "But yes." She nuzzled his nose with hers.

"I don't forget what you look good in…" he held her chin in his hand and leaned in for a kiss.

"Oh, is that so?" She giggled a bit more as he took her in his arms. She squealed playfully as he rolled her onto the ground, positioning himself over her so he could gaze into her crimson eyes.

"Then again…" He made a show as if contemplating, "you look good in everything…" He winked at her.

"Oh, Gai…" she rolled her eyes and blushed at the same time. "I'm just glad you haven't forgotten me all together."

He stopped. Something about that comment struck him. The wind started to pick up and an overcast began to roll in as he studied her. Some buzzing or car alarms were barely audible in the distance. She laid there in front of him with her slight smile starting to fade and it was all he could do to stare back at her. "I… don't know what you mean…"

"I… was afraid…that I lost you again… Gai…."

Something in the pit of his stomach gave him a bad feeling.

"Why do you say something like that, Mikoto?" The buzzing became louder and bit by bit he could pick up individual voices and tones joining in, but he dared not look away from her to search for the source of commotion.

She reached to his face, almost in slow motion, and when her fingers touched his cheek, he realized that he couldn't feel them. Panicking on the inside, he tried to ignore the growing pain and heat he felt against the skin of his back, chest and left arm. The droning noises seemed to grow louder with each passing moment. 

Mikoto's voice started to falter from focus. "You won't forget me, will you?" The question lingered. Frustration rocked him and he understood that this wasn't real, but some altered vision of past trysts.

His azure eyes fought back tears as he choked out a whispered response… "I could never forget you, Mikoto… ever…" he wanted to hold her, as if that would keep away the inevitable.

"I won't forget you either… Gai…" She smiled meekly. "but I think…" sounds like thunder and dynamite filled the now grey scene, once a tranquil memory, "it's time for you to wake up…"

 

Another explosion rocketed him back to reality - the mechanical binds constraining his splayed sweat-drenched body shook, flinging his already throbbing head into the thick pane of glass directly in front of his face. Woozy, he peered through dripping blood into what lay before him - beyond the window, the source of the muffled background noises.

A siren blared on the other side along with the hum of machines, some several computer hard drives bleeping incessantly, blinking alert lights circled and a scurry of different figures ran back and forth enveloped by chaos through a tight chamber that looked to be some sort of observation tank with he as the subject. Here he was, in the flesh, suspended upright with several needle like things jabbing into his spinal column feeding some kind of pulse through his nerves and flashing scrutinizing rays of various hues traveling all over his body. This was obviously not somewhere he wanted to be. He felt his heartbeat thump rapidly. He wished this was the dream instead of what had been.  
'Mikoto….'

Scientists and soldiers darted betwixt each other as the alerts blared, snapping orders to one another. Easily a dozen gun-toters cocked their weapons and hurriedly lined the entrance door, awaiting any kind of attack, and others' voices could be heard through their radio devices, yelping away their positions.

"Intruders spotted!"  
"Permission to fire!?"  
"Men down, men down!"  
"Subject and unit 6 must be secured!"  
"Captain San awaiting clearence!"  
"No response from ConTech Base!"  
"Aaaaaahhhh!"

Gai struggled painfully. His left arm still burned and his chest felt like it was going to explode. "Hey- Hey, what's going on - what is this!? Who are you people!?"

A droid scientist looked up. "The subject is awake!" It screamed in a high-pitched metallic voice.

"Well, great, not like we don't have enough problems…!" a sizeable, tatted-up humanoid with a brow that rivaled a caveman and clutching a massive cannon-like gun entered the room. He was garbed in the same attire as the guards, though he brandished several stripes on the breast of his vestment and chewed on some kind of cigar "Damn ICORus sending their dogs to nip at our heels and now we're trapped with some unstable test subject…" He slid a keycard against the door lock and instantly it bolted shut. "Still, I'd rather take my chances with a lit fuse than tango with the Copula Brigade if I can keep from it."

"Rest assured, Captain San," the robot tinkled, "initializing safety protocol now…" He pressed a button and the next thing Gai knew was a surge of a violent voltage coursing through him.

"Gaaaaah!" He cried out in anguish and fought back tears of extreme pain as he strained. Through gritted teeth, "…Obviously you're not 'friends'…" He was some sort of test subject to them, apparently. He didn't really get it. Nor did he really want to.

He continued to struggle against the torture. He didn't really remember what had happened to him. Had he been floating in space before? Who was ICORus? The Copula Brigade? What the hell was going on? A billion questions seemed to buzz louder than the sirens and the agony of loss seemed to overshadow the pain of the seizing force driving through him. Was he going to die like this - like some caged animal in a glass box? Well, if that was to be, he was going to make sure he went out fighting and as angry and uncooperative as possible.

Hot-blooded nature willed him forward, tensing and turning and twisting and reaching back in his mind for every small bit of strength he had. Each exertion offered him another dial of pain as the voltage only rose in intensity until he thought he was surely on fire. He roared in agony, but continued to strain against it. He clenched his fists inside the metal cuffs. A vein threatened to burst in his temple and neck. He was sure his stomach or something inside him had burst already because all he could taste was blood and bile.  
The clamoring audience outside began to stare now with some infectious anxiety toward him. This creature was more resilient than they thought.

"Why is he still conscious!?" San shouted, panicked, at the droid.

The robot scientist looked over the configurations, dials and energy levels going crazy on the screen, and back at the subject. "It… does not compute…"

"Does not compute?!" San questioned angrily.

Gai screamed out in rage, issuing up the last of his mettle, and knowing this was the last one he would muster.

"Aaaah! Mikotoooo!" The name issued out of his cracked vocal cords right as a surge of energy emanated out from him like a shock wave and shattered the glass shield, rebounding through the hall, causing systems to go haywire, fidget and burst. Spectators screamed and ducked. He crunched, his bonds snapping off the ceiling and floor, and for a second, dumbfounded surprise overcame him, as well as his spectators, whose eyes threatened to leave their heads.

"The subject has broken the bonds!" the droid screeched.

He slammed against the floor, hard, relieved but knowing he was still far from freedom. Heaving and wheezing and wondering what he had just done, he managed to pick himself up, glimpsing that slight green glow issuing from underneath his left manacle. He couldn't think about it right now though, too many other things were pestering him.

'Mikoto… give me strength…'

Computer systems fizzled, sparked, and smoked but not a peep was ushered from the stunned spectators. They stared in disbelief, with their mouths agape, at this beast carrying the power of a god raising himself feebly from the floor. Blood and sweat dripped off his body, the once-functional restraints still locked on his limbs like metallic bracelets, his chest heaved with every breath he let escape and his matted mane frayed out like a haggard lion. The eerie ambience of pulsating red lights and blaring sirens blanketing this feral man sent fear straight to the soul. Shadows lined the edges of his face as he held it low, gradually lifting to meet the awestruck dilated gaze of Captain San. The cigar he'd been suckling fell from a maw laden with ragged razor teeth that became only more prominent with each upturn of his lips.

"Now then…" Gai gurgled, "anyone want to answer my questions nicely…?"


	2. Reversal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- Here's Your Latest Intelligence!
> 
> Gai Shishioh, the Evoluder from Earth and member of the elite group know as GGG, has somehow been teleported to another place in space where he is found and imprisoned by suspicious examiners. Confused, Gai struggles to escape his captors with a newfound power coursing through him. Who are these people and what is their intention?
> 
> Find out next!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Comment -
> 
> Well, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter - but if you're reading this, that means I at least piqued your interest! The first three chapters were originally one long one, but I decided to split it for easier reading. Still, it's best to think of the three as one episode in an anime or a pilot movie xD
> 
> I also must explain that, if it wasn't clear already, this story is very much within the same tonality as Final - though I try to keep humor present to compliment some graphic imagery…
> 
> Oh yes, there will be blood.

GaoGaiGar: Rectified

 

Episode Two: Reversal

"Now then… anyone want to answer my questions nicely…?"

Only the sirens still sounded, though almost like miles away, as the lion stood glaring into all their souls.

"Subject has escaped." The droid bluntly addressed after a long recess.

San snapped to reality, mean-mugging the bot. "Would you stop stating the obvious, you useless piece of shit!" Then darting looks at his subordinates, he swung his cannon gat around lickety-split. "Fire at will!" Hauling off a blast along with his subordinates' rapid-fire, Gai only had time to gasp as he was hit point-blank in the gut and went flying into the nearest sparking computer terminal.

"…I guess not…" Gai coughed up blood, answering his previous question. He rolled on his back and slumped against the terminal, willing himself to stay conscious. He shook in reprised anguish as he clutched his bleeding abdomen.

San lit up another cigar as the droid and several other scientists crowded around him.

"You damaged the subject!"

"Juno will not be pleased with this!"

"You were supposed to secure it!"

"What if it had detonated when you did that!?"

"So irresponsible!"

"Shut up! He didn't, did he? Juno can just repair him or some shit anyway, right?" He scoffed. "She was most interested in the arm… why don't you all just chop it off and freeze it?" Gai's eyes widened. "…we have more pressing matters to deal with!" San grabbed one of the scientists by the collar. "Or, did you forget that we're still staving off that damn Copula's minutemen!" As if on cue, a beep ushered from a comlink in his ear. "Yeah, Block? How goes things on your end? I still hear gunfire and… will someone turn off that damn siren already!"

The siren stopped as the scientists ushered back to their posts, frantically trying to work with malfunctioning machines. A few silhouettes with their glasses glinting in the bright lights, hovered over Gai, who could barely look past the ache in his abdomen, with pinging scanners and gadgets. Every fiber in his being was telling him to do something - to get away from this potential horror movie. Spasms of pain seeded through him, convulsing his body sporadically. The spectators jumped when his left arm smacked against exposed circuits. He could only writhe more as a curt conduction zinged through his burning arm and into the rest of him.

He collapsed as the pulse flowed through him. He could only allow it - now immobile and beleaguered. His vision began to fade, but instead of being met with darkness, he saw a myriad of circuitry and schematics of a ship… no the ship he was on… every nook and cranky suddenly becoming clear to him. Reports and data, blueprints and such ebbed into his brain. All kinds of muffled static, feedback in his ear, and images a plenty - multiple scenes as if staring at a display of security cameras whizzed past his vision and overran his senses. 'I've tapped into the computer system.' He acknowledged it as fact, as if he'd done it before.

'Transport to Algorithm Cluster… ConTech owned… An important experiment… nh, what?'

Then, he heard San's voice issuing from somewhere. "Block, you and your ConTech pals better make sure that the Copula Brigade doesn't reach Unit 6 or else…"

"Or else what!?" A deep female voice boomed on the other end of the transmission.

"Or else Juno is going to have all our hides!" He bellowed, cracking the speaker.

Narrowing in on the transmission, Gai was able to find corresponding video feeds. A tall dark-complected woman with long black hair and a form-fitting black jumpsuit stood amidst a corridor of dead soldiers. Her voice came through like an echo, issuing from both the vid feed and the transmission. "I told you, things are being HANDLED. You just worry about your end, Captain."

Before San could reply, Block cut off the transmission and maneuvered her way through the corpses of her fallen companions. Turning a corner, she was met with even more bodies, but this time, one live one was perched a top a mound of them, awaiting leisurely with a smug look on her face.

"Oh, yeah, you're handling things great, hun." The woman was an eye-patch wearing, long-haired blonde bombshell clothed in the fashion of wanting to be a pirate. Atop her head was a large rouge hat with a plume of white feathers and at her side, she brandished two swords that looked to be rapiers dangling from straps on a leather belt. Another strap fastened around her left shoulder held a massive bazooka behind her.

Block sneered. "Damn you, Corsair!" She rushed the pirate girl at break-neck speed. Corsair only smirked. Block leapt toward her position with her fist drawn. Corsair darted to the side, just quick enough to miss Block's attack. The force of the punch barreled into the wall in front of her, indenting in the metal.

Corsair whistled gleefully from behind. "You sure pack a punch, huh?"

Block removed her now-stone arm from the surface and glared back at her. "That's right…" Her whole figure slowly shifted to a stone façade as she turned.

"Funny enough," Corsair mused, "…SO DO I…!"

She whipped out her bazooka and fired it off.

From another video feed, a swell of electricity swarmed about a group of soldiers, blasting them away. Back to back, two forms stood in the middle of it, evidently the source of the energy. One was a hulking, top-heavy, mechanical humanoid with a tiny midriff, massive thighs and long teeny legs. The other looked to be about the same size as Gai, dressed in a mechanical suit himself, but more in the style of cybernetic knight than a robotic monster. The bigger one held up a hand of four slender claws and the palm opened up to shoot out yet another blast of energy that flung their attackers back. His other arm shifted to a sword which he brandished expertly as he swung around gracefully like a ballerina, despite his lumbering appearance. The smaller one tangoed around his massive companion with equal agility, wielding a lighted lance, flipping and twirling it in and around his hands. His pale green hair splayed out from behind a metal mask reminiscent of the medieval renaissance with a tweek; the curved visor was painted in the guise of a giant toothy grin.

"Sorry guys, nothing personal" the smaller one simpered as he shouldered his lance, "I'm in a hurry… got a date later…"

The bigger one whirred to attention and issued in a booming unemotional voice, "Knight, your apology is unneeded toward the opposition and the mission is of utmost priority…"

"Chill your circuits, Rodelero, it was a joke…"

"Acknowledged…" a bleep. "Ha." A pause. "Which way is directive?"

"Yeah, okay… lessee here…" Knight fangled with a radar device at his right arm as Rodelero casually blasted more people behind them. Knight glanced up toward the space that a flashing light indicated, into an oncoming darkened hallway. "Looks like it's just past this ominous corridor!"

As he said this, two small red orbs appeared hovering over them against the blackened veil. "Uh… Rodelero…" Another hulking mechanical monster appeared, quadripedal and six-armed with three segments to its body and lined top to bottom with more lights illuminating spots of hidden targeting weapons. "…You might want to take this one…!"

"Morrigrin." Rodelero stated.

"Project must be secured!" Morrigrin bellowed, shooting off umpteen different projectiles into their direction.

Yet another video display observed a giant bay area where the hull was breached by another vessel. Its whole front was impaled into the wall in an obvious kamikaze dive-bomb maneuver to make an entrance quick. Huge front cannons were drawn at the ready, as well as boosters that hummed in anticipation. Another crowd of soldiers, these wearing space-ready battle suits, aimed their giant guns toward a trio of peculiar intruders standing in front of their vessel.

"Huh. A welcoming party." One of the three, a husky gaudy-looking older woman with violet hued hair and black battle armor, stated. She had a stash of grenades around her waist and breast. In each hand, she held pistol-like guns and still more were fastened to her legs. Her face held a stoic countenance as she slowly chewed on something. "Looks like fun, right, Streltsy?"

A grunt came from another of the invaders - a squat sleepy-eyed fellow brandishing an oversized glaive at one side and holstering a harquebus across his plump belly. He had a bushy brown but graying beard that was long enough to cover most of his front and a hairstyle that resembled a Mohawk drawn down into hanging dreadlocks, though whether this was from choice or unfortunate balding was not obvious.

"Eh bien… mayhap we should give them cake or some-ting?" The last of the figures stood out the most of all three - a robust and rotund, shaggy speckled avian-creature with a hooked beak and thick black brows that crowned wild orange falcon eyes. He wore a poncho vestment and a floor-trailing green coat over his tall, pale, downy figure and though he had no wings, his four muscular arms were decorated with enough feathers that gave off the impression. A pipe hung from a jagged edge of his slightly opened beak and a steady stream of smoke erupted from his nostrils. He cradled a high-tech blunderbuss-like gun in his feathery arms.

The defending soldiers stood alert as a silky voice permeated from behind the crowd. "Well, I must say that I never expected to meet Copula's Brigade in my life time…" the guardsmen shifted out of the way for an approaching organism of multiple tendrils, seemingly just a squirming mess of wispy shadow-like hairs that moved in sequence enough to convey a tangible form. An androgynous mug materialized with still little slithering hairs floating around it and chanced a cheeky grin. "…or, by the looks of it… your life times…"

"Magnifique, Plo~!" The bird snorted. "I must say, I'm glad I didn't keel over before finally feasting mine eyes on your grotesque form. The stories do not exaggerate."

Plo narrowed his slit eyes. "You must be 'Dragoon'… the fine-feathered smart-mouth demolitionist… and a notorious eater."

Dragoon raised a brow. "…You calling me fat, punk!?" The other two elders looked at him with blank faces. After a moment, the woman rolled her eyes and jabbed a gun in the air toward the enemy.

"Plo, there is undeniable proof that you and this whole operation are under the authority of the intergalactic criminal organization ConTech, that you have come in possession of a dangerous energy source AND that you are in league with the notorious mastermind Juno…" Plo stared, undisturbed, as she kept on her spiel. "As per the ICORus council, we're here to take you into custody and gain possession of the unique signature our sensors picked up…." She lowered her finger and stepped forward. "I'm required to tell you that. Surrender, and we won't HAVE to do more damage than necessary… lest you resist… " She cocked her pistols.

Gai slowly came out of this trance, very weak, to be met with the looks of his surveyors drawn to his left arm (which was again issuing the same glow as before) as well as poking and prodding at his abdomen. He chanced a glance and realized that astonishingly his wounds, though still present, were not as terrible as they had been. He was healing himself…!? Had that dive into the computer did that? Just what was he anyway?

He thought about what he had gathered from the video and transmissions. 'Dangerous energy source, huh? I guess… that's me? Am I really so dangerous?' He couldn't help but think back to fuzzy memories of himself and Mikoto. 'Mikoto, who were we? Normal people?' Still, even if they weren't… he couldn't just give up like this and let other people take control of his body. He had to fight. He had to search deep. He had to use his power. And most of all… 'I have to…' he winced, digging inside himself, '…have courage…!'

The radical thought triggered something powerful. Motivation and courage numbed away any pain he still had and the glow on his arm increased in intensity. He leapt up, fueled by adrenaline and an innate livid energy. The scientists tried to run for cover, but it was too late for one lanky man who screamed as Gai yanked him back, throwing the man's tumbling body out of his coat and into the adjacent wall. "I need this." Gai took the jacket and, in a few quick movements, garbed himself in a makeshift fundoushi. "That's better."

San spun around to face him. "What in the Void!?"

Gai's hair whipped around as he faced the captain. Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, bravado burst from his seams. "Gai Shishioh, that's what!"

Before the captain could respond, Gai decked him in the face, sending him into the barricaded door. The trigger-happy underlings pelted a rapid-fire retort but the young lion sprinted out of the bullet's path - each pitting a spot where he had once been. Mad with frustration and vengeance, Gai set out to take out every one of them. Knocking their clocks and socking their jaws left and right, guardsmen were sent soaring over the panicked scientists. But, they were next.

"SUBJECT IS RESPONSIVE-ACK!" The droid scientist's head rolled across the floor.

"Damn right I am!" A blast of energy exploded from him, smashing any computers left functioning.

The science team cried out in terror and ran in frantic circles, now utterly trapped.

He could feel that strange power of his surround him. The green glow enveloped his whole body and slowly turned to a brilliant swirling aura of orange. 'Genesic….?' the thought came to him from the back of his mind. He glanced at his left hand still concealed under a defunct mechanical manacle - but he remembered something now. He knew that underneath was the sign of a dead planet's legacy - the power of the G-Stone. And somehow, he could use it… no… he was one with it. He closed his eyes in concentration.

He could feel the reverberation of his metal bonds, their mechanical nature and suddenly he thought that maybe he could alter them to his whims. Neon circuits streamed underneath his skin toward them, changing their state into improvised cybernetic limbs - claws over his hands and shin guards for his legs. Lifting his head, he let his gaze drift from face to face of each scurrying scientist in that room. When he was sure he had seen every blurred fearful stare, he began his hunt. One after one, he targeted them, smacking them down, flicking their face into the wall or throwing them across the room. Shins met guts and claws slashed machine shields. He admittedly allowed some leniency due to them being unarmed, despite the fact that he felt they didn't deserve it.

One left. A claw threw a terminal out of his way and growling, he stood over the cowering crying girl. She peered through rose-tinted glasses that showed his reflection. He stopped and softened when he saw how she saw him - some crazed creature out for blood.

"Please…" she quivered. "Please, I was only following orders….!"

Gai's eye's widened. "What orders!?"

"From Juno of ConTech… The organization will do anything to gain more power! And you have that power. Juno wanted to extract it somehow or use it. We were just ordered to study you and find some way of doing that…. Through any means necessary…! I had no choice, please….!"

His eyes narrowed. "You always have a choice."

"No…" she sobbed. "They were going to kill me…and my father!"

A scoff from behind caught Gai's attention. "What do you mean 'were' ?" A shot rang through the hall as a bullet passed through her chest. Gai stared in shock as she fell back lifeless against the floor, tears still present on her eyes. He swung around madly toward Captain San brandishing his cannon. "You… how dare you kill your own people!?" He raced right at him and slammed down on the massive gun barrel with his cyber-claws. The nose went down and up came the back end, smacking San across the face. He stumbled backwards and Gai again was on him, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him into the wall. "You asshole! Why!?"

San had a distant desensitized look. "Hmph. They're going to kill us anyway. We failed and we know too much. It's only a matter of time now before cleaners come to destroy this whole vessel." Gai studied his face. "…I… took pity on her."

Gai snarled, dropping him and stumbled toward the door. Glaring at the e-lock, he placed his hand over the device and allowed himself another try at modding the nexus. The door unlocked with a click and he stood in the entrance, gathering up what to say.

"That's what you call 'pity'…? I hope you can live with that…" and he ran out into the dark corridor.

San sat there, defeated and contemplating, among his unconscious companions and sparking systems. The body of his dead daughter not too far away. "No… I can't."

Raising the gun to his chin, he fired.


	3. Retrieval

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \- Here's Your Latest Intelligence!
> 
> Using the Genesic energy he has been imbued with, Gai Shishioh escapes his prison while an intrepid group of invaders battle for control of the power source aboard the criminal vessel. Are they friend or foe? Will the power struggle tilt in their favor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Comment -
> 
> This is the final part of the super long chapter that I split into three smaller parts, so I guess you could say this is the end of the episodes' episode.
> 
> You may have noticed that a lot of the names of characters are puns, because I am a fan of them.
> 
> But also I have also named…
> 
> The Morrigrin after "The Morrigan" in Irish Mythology
> 
> and the Copula Brigade members after different types of soldiers/hired guns;
> 
> Dragoon - French cavalrymen
> 
> Reiter - German mounted pistol-wielders
> 
> Streltsy - Russian guardsmen
> 
> Corsair - pirates
> 
> Knight - obvious
> 
> Rodelero - Spanish swordsmen
> 
> Trooper - private in military rank
> 
> As this is a continuation of a previously recognized series, there will be many new characters (though most only pop up briefly) and conflicts, but past events from the series proper will definitely be reinstated and not forgotten all together.
> 
> Join Gai on his journey to figure out just what the heck is going on, won't you?
> 
> Quick pronunciations -
> 
> Bab (Bob)
> 
> Mach (MawK)
> 
> Nemann(Nee-main)
> 
> "SAMHAIN TRYST" (Sawm-Win-Trist)

GaoGaiGar: Rectified

 

Episode Three: Retrieval

Sprinting down the corridor, Gai could feel the nagging sensations of pain and exhaustion with every stride. His wounds were starting to come back and he coughed up a little more blood. Circuits of pure energy still raced up and down his panting body, his blazing aura lighting the shadowy hall. Remembering the blueprints of the ship, he understood this as the secured area 'Unit 6'. The only personnel in the area had been the ones in the science hall - all other guards sent elsewhere to keep the intruders at bay, the soldiers within the science hall being a sort of last resort.

So, the intruders were after him too, but they were also obvious foes of his captors… seemingly fighting them like some kind of army infantry or police force. 'I'm the subject of a power struggle…' he thought. Still, the enemy of his enemy was his friend….

He skid to a halt, holding himself and studied the floor panels. Using his cyber claws, he pried one up to reveal a circuit panel underneath. The ship was one big computer terminal itself - acting as the body for multiple connected systems. He attempted another link with the ship and inhaled a hiss as pain shot up his body. He couldn't let himself falter yet…! It was a risk, but there was no way he could take all the members of the ship on himself and resolved to 'tilt the balance'. He cringed against the pain but pressed on. The ship shuddered and lurched at his control, leaning to one side.

Block and Corsair eyed each other as they wheezed in fatigue. Block gripped at a grazed arm, chipping off in pieces, her tanned flesh surrounding the stone portion. Still more scrapes were prevalent along her body, shielded by stone sutures. Corsair's clothing was tattered and ripped, her body was peppered with bruises and messy gashes. Her lip was busted and she was pretty sure her ribs were broken but that hardly compared to her worst wound…

She couldn't help but sob a little.

Block chuckled. "Crying? I guess you finally realize that you can't possibly beat me…"

"No, it's not that…" Corsair whined. "You destroyed my prized bazooka!" She pointed toward her dismantled gun laying a few feet away from her and let out a wail. "We had been through so much together! It was like… A PART OF ME! Wahahahahhhh!"

Block seethed in annoyance. "Is this a joke to you?" Her brow twitched.

"Uh… no. I was clearly crying, not laughing, idiot." Corsair smirked. "Now this would be a joke… 'oh, look at me, I'm Block and I'm so smart! 'Cept I'm a rock or something so I have no brain - woopadoop!"

Block's face reddened. "Are you mocking me?!"

"How do you mock a rock?! Oh! Paper! Hahaha!"

"Join your BF BFG, you smart ass!" Block lunged forward and smashed her good arm right into Corsair's cheek, propelling the blonde back toward her smashed up gun. A few more plunges and Corsair fell to the ground next to it. Spitting up a tooth, she frowned. "Aw, I don't have dental insurance either…"

Block wound up for another attack, this one was going to be a body slam - but just as she threw herself forward, the ship shifted. Block went tumbled over. Corsair, seeing an opportunity, sprinted forward with a deadly sneer and gun in hand. As Block tried to recover, she was met with the barrel of the broken bazooka swinging across her head. She just managed to solidify the skin before, but it was not enough to save her from the stunning impact. Face down on the ground and dazed, she was defenseless against the swift strike of dual rapiers in her shoulders. She screamed in pain as Corsair, straddling her back, dug the blades into Block's shoulder blades.

Fire blazed all around Morrigrin as she tossed volleys at her targets. Rodelero leapt to and fro, a blur of motion, around each zinger. Twirling like a top, he pointed a skinny leg and the heel shot a laser right into her face, destroying one of the optics. She growled and yanked at his leg, flinging him into the ceiling. As he came back down, she galloped over and pummeled him hard to the floor.

Knight rushed ahead of the grappling behemoths and cleared the way of straggling soldiers who attempted some fool-hardy move of countering them. Placing a hand at his head, he attempted a transmission through an ear piece, but to no avail. 'Damn, can't call for back-up… no doubt, the robo chick is carrying some sort of dampering frequency…"

Still more soldiers pursued and he tisked with annoyance. "These fodder characters never learn, do they?" He slapped one silly with the blunt of his lance. He looked back just in time to duck as the top portion of Morrigrin - the head, breast and shoulders - went flying overhead squishing another unsuspecting soldier. "Woo! Alright!"

Before he could offer up anymore encouragement, it began to move on it's own, flopping about like a dying fish. "Erk! Creepy!" The two arms shifted downward turning into legs, with a new set of arms popping out of the back compartment. The form buckled and clutched until it regained a new more feminine guise. "Morrigrin is… MORE than Morrigrin?!"

"Something like that," came the deceptively sweet reply from this new robotoid. "I am Bab, one of the Morrigrin sisters. It's a shame our intellectual capacity is diminished when we combine, but oh well…"

Rodelero shifted his focus between the towering quadripedal, four-armed bottom part and Bab, then back. "Intellectual capacity is recognized as null."

"Okay, so I'm the only sister with intellectual capacity, but oh well…" She giggled. "I am the brains, after all… SAMHAIN TRYST!"

Rodelero was seized by the bottom instantly and Bab's arms opened up to shoot out blade-tipped cables right into the other robot. Wrapping around his form and constricting, the cables jabbed their tips into his body, holding him tight. He fizzled and sparked and his head literally spun as it threatened to unscrew.

A dash of light sliced through the cables. Knight jeered as he sat like a fly on the wall, his lance shimmering from the attack. "That's not what I consider consent, lady…!" Bab lost her balance as the cables snapped back and Rodelero, breaking free from the bottom, clutched a cable before she could bring it back in. With all his might, he spun her around like a wrecking ball into the rest of the Morrigrin. As they crashed into each other, Morrigrin blasted off a round from an arm-cannon.

"OH SHIT!" Knight shreiked in sympathetic agony as Rodelero's lower regions were obliterated. Doing the splits, Rodelero slumped to his butt…. Or what was left of it. The robot gave his friend an inquisitive look.

"Oh right, you're not made of flesh…" Knight sighed in relief.

"No, but oh well…! You are!" Bab leapt toward the small Knight, shifting back into the upper segment. Making a fist, she careened toward the retreating lancer who was smashed into the hall wall. He was gripped mercilessly in her arms as she threatened to squeeze the life out of him with Rodelero unable to help. Her bottom portions lumbered over and they snapped back together. Morrigrin smiled and flung the armored man toward Rodelero's head. They both screamed at the inevitable impact, but just then - the ship shifted a bit and Knight was sent again into a wall instead. Moving again, the two of them were sent ping-ponging down the hall with Morrigrin close behind.

The sudden change in direction was also evident to the crowd in the bay area who all went tumbling over.

And another shift of direction. And another, Even the three intruders were having a hard time keeping their balance, supported only by Dragoon's weight. Everyone looked around bewildered.

"That's not good…" Plo whispered nervously. "Well, now's as good a chance as any to… ATTACK!" He whipped his arm out in a conducting manner and the armored soldiers, now in automatic attention, fired at the three.

Dragoon looked toward his female comrade. "We'll take that as a 'no' to surrendering..."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. The trio charged forward with their weapons drawn, pelting through the militia.

Through the window of the Copula Brigade's ship, the fireworks could be seen but the young pilot, a chiropteran creature, was busy belting out off-key versions of pop songs he picked up over their radio. A transmission in his ear-link cut his party short.

"Trooper!" The woman's voice resounded.

"Hm, Reiter, hey girl… how's the negotiation?"

"As we figured, there wasn't one."

Trooper finally glanced out at the fire fight. "Oh, I see that…" Sitting back in the control chair, he began to flip a bunch of switches. "Ok then, that's my cue - Operation Light Show is go!"

Outside, the massive front cannons of the vessel lit up. A surge of energy circled from the rim of the cannons to the center and back again and thousands of red glowing dots budded inside the muzzle. After another quick stream of energy, the dots blasted out like wasps from a next. Lasers streamed down on the targets below. One after another, the soldiers were felled by the unpredictable barrage and the remaining began to panic, trying to run away from the onslaught.

Plo grimaced. "Fools! You're breaking my concentration!" He yanked at the air with his tendrils and arms. The soldiers instantly hushed and stood alert… acting as puppets to his will. The trio startled, realizing what was happening here. He waved his hands through the air and the men fired upon them. Dragoon and friends zigzagged for cover.

"Haha… you see? I'm in complete control!" Plo chortled as the soldiers kept up their relentless attack. Then the ship tilted again. The zombiefied soldiers all fell over, leaving Plo standing, snapping his head back and forth, humorously astonished.

"NO, you're not…" Dragoon sneered as the three held their guns on him.

Gai's chest started to burn again and he found it harder to keep the connection. He clutched the scar on his chest. He caught a memory of a painful battle and the vision of a man… no, a devil…. who used implements of torture to control him and others.

'Palpalapa…?' Gai's lip curled. He remembered HIM. He shook his head fiercely. He didn't want to think about the past right now. He just wanted to get off this damn vessel! The ship shook violently with every turn he made. He staggered and could no longer hold onto it, falling backwards. That healing ability was dwindling and he found himself covered in blood. But he was close to help maybe… just beyond the corridor. He rolled over and crept slowly forward, willing himself to keep on. Surely that little alteration he provided helped. He really didn't want to run into more soldiers right now.

Knight and Rodelero smacked into each other as they tumbled down the hall. Knight managed a peak ahead at the locked door to Unit 6.

Gai could see the door to Unit 5. It was right there, but he couldn't go any further. Like a baby learning to crawl, he just crouched on his arms, rocking and trying so hard to move. He really was tired. When was the last time he felt this tired? He didn't think it was that long ago actually…

'Mikoto…' he thought about her.

Knight and Rodelero slid in front of the door, Knight's radar bleeping madly. "Rodelero, we're almost done I think…" Rodelero just sparked a response. "Oh man! You're in rough shape!" Doing the best he could, he quickly shouldered the big guy and walked toward the door's e-lock. "Hm…" He tapped his helmet in thought, "gotta use brains to figure this one out…"

Morrigrin belted out a battle cry as she appeared from the darkness charging toward them.

"Oh, there's some now…"

Morrigrin smashed into the two wounded warriors and through the door that connected units 6 and 5. Gai's eyes snapped open at the noise and witnessed a scene of three tumblers zinging over him into the middle of the hall. Knight and Rodelero splatted against the wall, with the big guy's weight pinning the smaller. "Ugh, Rodelero! I can't move…!" He gasped from underneath him. He then glanced his radar on his right arm bleeping madly. The subject should be right in front of them. He looked up. There was Gai, semi-conscious on the floor in a pool of blood.

"Wait…. Is this thing jacked up?" Knight pondered looking at it and then back to Gai. "It's saying the energy sig is… him?"

Morrigrin, seemingly just now aware of the wounded man, quaked in her place. "The… subject…. Is here!?"

"Subject? So, he IS the energy source!?"

Rodelero shifted. "Knight… systems are… failing…"

"Ah, what! Hang on, pal!" Knight struggled desperately to pull himself from underneath him. "Ah… I swear if you go kaput like this…!"

Morrigrin ogled at Gai for a bit, but then turned her attention back to her opponents. "Subject is damaged and not a threat. Measures will be taken after targets are annihilated." Her top half bolted up and transformed back into Bab, flipping in front of the pinned adversaries. Knight cried out in dread as he squirmed helplessly.

"Rodelero, we gotta move! She's gonna destroy us! Remember the directive, man!?"

"Di-rect-ive…." his robot buddy stammered.

"Oh well…" Bab sang. "You're both dead…" The bottom segments of Morrigrin towered behind as they both strutted toward them. "CONFOUNDING CONFLICTION!"

Morrigrin split apart at the two remaining segments - the stomach and midriff with four arms, and the bottom segment of three legs. The middle altered it's bottom pair of arms into a pair of legs and a head full of cables sprouted from the gut. The legs-portion extended it's three limbs, altering its form into a slender, hunchbacked figure. The three feminine robots circled Knight and Rodelero and without much hesitation, bombarded the wall with arm-cannon fire.

Knight cried out in terror. Rodelero's chassis quavered in the white blaze as it received most of the attack, pelted with projectiles. "Rodelerooo!' Smoke and sparks erupted from him. "No, stop!" An explosion gushed from his gut and his limbs shot out like rockets. Gears, shrapnel and oil sprayed out across the hall and covering the small companion below him, who held a stare in tearful shock.

Gai gasped in terror, wanting very much to do something for them but being unable to move.

When the robotic trio were done with their barrage, the smoldering body of Rodelero sparked but remained unresponsive otherwise. Knight bowed his head and couldn't contain whimpers of fear.

"Di-rect-ive…" came a slow acknowledgement.

Knight's head popped up. "Rodelero?! You're still alive?!"

Bab looked disappointed and scrunched her face. "And that was our big bad final attack… how resilient is this bot?" Then looking at her other components, "Oh well…" she shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to do things the old-fashioned way…" She sped toward Rodelero and hauled off a side punch right into the head, sending his broken body tumbling, but freeing Knight from underneath.

"You bitch!" Knight leapt forward with electrified lance drawn, but the middle portion girl dodged him with a swift backhand, sending him soaring toward where Gai lay. Knight landed with a thump next to him, his mask bouncing off in the process.

Gai gasped again. That man's face…. Was so familiar to him. He looked no older than him, maybe even younger, with sweeping pale bangs and a slight growing beard. Gai really couldn't place who he looked like… but he felt like he knew him… before.

"Mach!" Bab fumed. "I wanted to hit him! But oh well…" She continued to smash and slash at Rodelero's torso, accompanied by the other femmes, her annoying giggles resounding over the clangs and clashes. Knight gradually lifted himself. "Dammit…" he struggled, "why ain't I… stronger….!?" He shouted, lifting his head, allowing Gai a bewildered look at him. He again bolted toward them, but was thrown back to the ground. "Unh… Rodelero….! Don't give up!"

Gai's attention pricked. 'Don't give up…!' He gawked as the man continued to get up, only to be beaten back by the massive odds.

He almost heard Mikoto's voice say 'Remind you of someone?'

Bab laughed as she smacked Knight into a wall again. "You're so annoying… oh well!" The other two components raised up the barely recognizable Rodelero. Knight felt something in his throat. "Your friend is dead now! Oh well…! I can still have fun with him and make you suffer a bit more…" She gleamed a sly smile and flipped back toward the other components. The three combined yet again into Morrigrin, holding Rodelero by the shoulders with the top set of arms and the hips with the mid's bottom pair of arms now.

"What… are you going to do to him!?" Knight wheezed against the ground. "You sick freak!?"

Morrigrin spun Rodelero around in her arms, so that he was facing her. The middle set of arms spread out at her sides and energy started to swell within each palm.

Again, Gai lapsed. That looked similar too.

"Initializing attack… Shock…" a blast illuminated in the right hand, "and Awe…" another in the left.

Gai's eyes wobbled in disbelief.

The forces began to swirl and counteract as if magnified, bringing the hands together. She held Rodelero's body out as the combined force began to move ever closer to his torso. Tears streamed down Knight's face.

Gai strained and a panting realization overcame him. That stance…this attack… he knew something.

He wasn't exactly aware of what he was doing, but he felt his sopping body raise from the ground. Knight looked up at him in surprise. Controlled by something latent, Gai muttered, "two powers in one…" circuits again ran up and down his body, issuing a splatter of blood from his orifices. He gasped for air. 'I can't stop. I have to fight.'

"Hell!" Blood gushed from his right arm as a red aura erupted from the cybernetic claw. Gai struggled to stay standing.

"Heaven!" More blood from the other as he repeated a similar stance as Morrigrin, the green aura at his left radiating against the crimson. His flesh felt like it was boiling as the arms blazed and an alien tongue issued from his lips as the forces were brought together.

"Gemu giru gan go gufou…!"

Morrigrin had no time to react. "VITAS!" Gai's body darted forward with the force of the god of destruction, claws clamped together the source of a cyclonic aura distorting the light around him and drops of blood swirled from everywhere. His eyes rolled back as the power overtook him, propelling his form from under her arms and into her mid-section. A scream echoed down the hall from both as Gai's cyber claws pierced her, clutching a core unit and pulling. His chest was on fire!

Morrigrin's arms went limp, dropping Rodelero, and the mid-section exploded around Gai's bloody form shielded by Genesic power. Morrigrin was split apart, the remaining segments propelled backward as the middle core was yanked from them. Clutching the core, Gai smashed it in one last display of power.

"HOLY GOD!" Knight exclaimed from Rodelero's side. "That radar wasn't lying!"

Bab and the other struggled to regain their forms. "Gaaaah! Nemann… Mach is no longer a part of us…." They fidgeted and seized, trying to regain composure. "Can't… function… on… two-thirds…. Oh… well…!" They went still, crashing.

Knight heaved a sigh and looked down at his fallen friend. "Hey, hang in there…. If you're still there…" he whispered. He whipped back around toward the comatose-but-still-standing Gai, surrounded in a blanket of fiery energy. Knight looked on in awe, not really knowing what to make of him. "Hey, man… uh….?" The aura abruptly vanished and Gai dropped like a sack. "…oh crap! You hang on too!"

He sprinted over to his neglected helmet and smacked it. "C'mon thing, work!" Holding to his ear, he could hear a slight bleep return to the com-link. With Morrigrin down, it wasn't hampered anymore. Sliding it over his tresses, he ran back to the fallen and called out an urgent transmission. "Directive is complete. Men down, injured. Let's get out of here!"

The Copula Brigade in the bay area startled at the open-call transmission, allowing Plo enough time to quickly flee, slithering away in a mess of curling tendrils.

"No, DAMN IT!" Dragoon attempted to pursue, but Reiter grabbed his arm.

"We don't have time for that… he said 'men down!'" She sent a quick transmission to their pilot. "Mission complete. We have injured, Trooper, let's go!"

Without a moment to waste, Trooper bashed a button down and the multiple teammates from across the vessel were teleported in little dissipations back to their own, looking way worse for wear in their dinky control room.

"Hey!" Corsair screamed from a bloody mouth and looking like she'd been ran over a couple of times. "I ALMOST FINISHED HER!"

The rest ignored her as they looked on at Knight, who could just barely move with the added weight of Rodelero's torso slumped over his right shoulder and in the crook of his left arm, an unconscious man who could compete with Corsair in a 'who looked the worst' contest.

"I didn't realize you were referring to a pick-up too," Reiter replied.

"HE's the energy signature…!" He moved his right-arm-rested radar over him as proof.

Trooper whistled. "Well, we're done here then! Hurry up and hang on to something…"

The engines purred to life and boomed as they kicked back, detaching from their entry point in the other vessel. It broke free from the hull - the vacuum of space grabbing bodies and debris as they blasted off. Block's stone form was flung into space. The remaining Morrigrin and retreating Plo suffered the same fate as explosions and implosions breached the other ship, utterly dismantling it. Any survivors were left to ponder their last moments as everything around began to fail.

Reiter sadly looked on beyond the window that separated her from them. "Why do they always fight…?"

Dragoon offered a consoling hand on her shoulder and exhaled, "I guess, it's just nature…"

The two of them glanced back toward Knight and the others who were hauling away Rodelero and the unconscious Gai as Trooper jetted into warp drive. "Next stop… Elysia! Copula and the Taranis are waiting!"

The debris and sparking equipment clung in space - a massive graveyard of tech and study swimming in silence. A mass of slender hairs wove slowly back together over the wreckage and Plo's incomparable form materialized in front of a fragmented floating stone effigy. A small twinge of orange light in the middle of his temple signaled a mental connection.

'Gee, Block…' Plo began psychically, 'looks like they really did a number on you…' then, stifling a laugh, '…but don't go to pieces over it….'

She cringed, but responded back in the same manner. 'UGH! That is the single LAMEST thing you could say right now…!'

'What, I can't add humor to a bad situation?' He acted offended. 'Don't be such a hard ass! Oh wait…' he giggled, 'you can't really help that can you!?'

She fumed as he laughed at her misfortune and only a few hands away, Morrigrin's two surviving parts frantically struggled to reach each other as they drifted ever further apart.

The heavy sounds of fingers rapping against the hard surface of a desk filled the stale air of the dimly lit room. The only source of light was a large display of monitors replaying the footage from various cameras of a disastrous failure. A thin golden-haired young girl stared unfalteringly through expressionless eyes at the back of the swivel chair facing them. Every angle and event was documented right there for the hidden figure sitting there, tapping a gnarled and clawed hand, to see.

"You know, Juno…" a booming voice finally ushered, "when I authorized the capture of that exploration vessel and even after I approved your idea to pursue this 'subject of interest'… I, of course, expected some kind of backlash or resistance from ICORus…" the tapping finally stopped. Juno blinked unemotionally. "However…" the claw dug into the surface of the desk momentarily. "…I did NOT expect it to COME FROM the SUBJECT itself!" The clawed hand slammed down on the desk hard enough to send some of the pens and paper flying off it. Juno still stood stagnant.

"It WAS unexpected, Headman…to say the least," The girl answered - her voice cold and unprovoked, "though I did warn that the subject appeared to be biological in the first place…" she heard a squeak from the chair as it shifted at that, "but we did learn something else from this debacle. This… creature… is somehow able to channel energy from within itself and concentrate it into large outbursts. It also appears to have some sort of molecular replication or altering ability. These factors would be essential ingredients for the success of ORC. If it can be harnessed to our benefit…"

"Well, that isn't going to happen if it's in the protection of the damn ICORus council, now is it?"

"…The council has, no doubt, some anxiety about these events as well and they will most likely resolve to keep the whole excursion under wraps. But rest assured, Headman, this still works in our favor. If we can draw it out of hiding… into the public eye… there will be no way ICORus can keep control of the situation."

Another creak from the chair, a pause and then a question, "…And how do you propose we do that…?"

Juno allowed a slight smile. "…Well, I did observe another interesting feature upon review…"

\- See you at Next!

**Author's Note:**

> X x x x X
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment and lemme know what you think! 
> 
> \- See you at Next!


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